Monday, December 31, 2007

Midnight Blues, Eric Bachman and Singleton, 2007

Midnight~
the love child of day and night
the great yes~no~maybe,
imploring us:

"Don't look back"

Midnight~
Born in the arcane math
of 24 turned back to zero,
all clean slates filled
with pink love marks,
one more X traced on
skin by waiting hands
we know in the dark.

Midnight~
patron hour
of witches
tyrants
gypsies
and jokers
drawing the line in black~magic
marker,
stallion of seduction and strength
running time's marathon
the mother of all fevers
the endless
clandestine
taboo.

Midnight~
as the old fire light fades,
a brand new gift of 365
sunsets and rises~
the sacred mysteries
the soft~lipped silent passing
caress of our greatest
enemy
turned
lover.

Midnight~
fizzing and
running over
spilling enchantments
like the gifts of a wise Magi
from the mystic east,

Midnight~
"This is the one and only now,
the endless this moment,
ecstasy reborn between
yesterday and tomorrow"

As Midnight falls upon us,
making everything old
new,
everything beloved
to begin yet again...
glasses filled with
Midnight love on the rocks
a Second Chance Martini...
spilling over
in hopes that no acquaintance will
ever
be forgotten,
and all sins began in such sweet
earnest
likewise...

106 comments:

singleton said...

Happy New Year World......
Feel the love.....!!!

The Butterfly Bar said...

I'm feelin' it!

Oh yeah, I am!

Clink!

singleton said...

clink!
You got plans for tonight?

singleton said...

When they play The House isa rockin' tonight, I'm gonna throw you a New Years kiss to the sky! Skinny's will go to Stones!

eric1313 said...

If you start me up...
if you start me up I'll never stop...

You make a grown man cry-i-i...


--
Celebrate the night and the two years joined in the daisy chain of midnight's love lace, sweet Lady Singleton.

I'll be here, listening for the tin pan alley blues symphony... And when I hear it, I'll kiss the sky for all of you, and all of our blogger friends as well, listening to the Crystal Ship, as sung by our troubled hippie friend, Jim Morrison.

Man, what a drag it is being without a car!

singleton said...

Oh this will never do
grab your jacket and your smokes
we're goin'
downtown
to the
roofless
bar,
And I'll disappear into the crowd,
swishing and swaying
and you'll
end up
in the center of a
lemon drop circle...
reciting poetry
and how will be's
to pretty little ones
in high heels and
pointy neon hats


When the ball
drops we'll both kiss the sky
and that's how I'll
find you.....

by the butterfly trail....

Enemy of the Republic said...

Happy New Year, you crazy kids.

Clink!

eric1313 said...

And a happy one to you, as well, my friend. I'm so glad you dropped by to share it with us, even if just for a sec.

Peace and love, friend.

Andrea and Kim said...

Wonderful Word Painting, Eric!

Happy 2008!

eric1313 said...

Kim

Thank you for reading it. Sing and I both created this one. Inspiration is half of the wonder.

Peace to you!

eric1313 said...

Sing~
You didn't see me sitting at the table by the dance floor?

singleton said...

kimbies....I sooooo love you, you looked beautiful tonight,I'll fill you in on the gab tomorrow ! :) And that's why they call it Rumors!

Eric....2008
and I'm two hours too late,
but
I'm
wearing confetti in my hair
and I drove home with
a helium balloon
hurricane in the back of the car,
one step out,
and they were as free
as butterflies,
flying, dancing,
two stepping under the moon,
and I clinked you twice
once on the juke box
and once for real....

Did you hear the New Year?

singleton said...

I didn't see you,
hear you,
but
laced with mardi gras beads
and idle conversation,
I felt the music move,
left and left again,
and then I knew....

eric1313 said...

I heard the spankin' new year
like I heard your
wish
like fireworks
like Alice knocking
at the tiny door
two pills in hand...

confetti fell from the sky
white and cold and piling up
like a post card picture
like pure sugar cotton candy
like moon dust from
the spaceman's boots
after dancing with fate
on the 300,000 mile highwire
through black velvet and
pinpoint faces of the Hunter
the Empress
the Scorpion and the Fishes

I heard the New Year
and it knocked so softly
the doormouse answered for me
and Alice in blue denim
entered

All eyes found her
but she was never lost
midnight showed her the way...

eric1313 said...

Knockin' new year
and a rockin' world
took it by the hand
and asked it for the last
and the first
of many dances to be
---------------

Is that Kimbies? I didn't know!

singleton said...

I've had too many beers
and too many cheers
to stand in one place
to dance in the kitchen
to read silently,
but
I want you to know
that my wishess come true
are
for
peace
and love
and the happy ever after....


May two thousand and freedom rock!

eric1313 said...

And it will be so,
the greatest year yet to be
for peace and love...

A happy ever after
when the morning comes
it will surely be.

singleton said...

Peace~love my friend, I'm off to a midwinters night dream.......
Happy New Year....."Let's hope its good one "......

eric1313 said...

'night.

Sweet dreams, my friend.

singleton said...

Oooops!
Kim I apologize for writing you a love letter here, I was in the cheers and
thought you were my sweetsib, Kimbies! Welcome to the Bar!

Eric......
Whew! It's here! The New Year!

Andrea and Kim said...

And there is so much to do this year! Singleton, I am honored you wrote the lovely letter to your sis! She is very lucky to have such a wonderful big brother!

I will be visiting here often.

eric1313 said...

Yes it is. It'll be a fine year, methinks...

Nap time did me good. I'll be back soon--I have to hit the store and pick up some groceries, but I'll be back.

With lines by the handful.

Meet you there!

Andrea and Kim said...

Oops! Sorry Singleton...I jumped ahead on that one! Kimbies is very lucky indeed to have you as a Big Sis!

singleton said...

kim....well, we might be sisters after all, the ooopsla twins! :)Still, it's so nice to meet ya, and you know, every now and then I have to play Big Brother, too, so it's all good, my friend!

Eric....OK, now we're on totally different clocks, you stayed up all night, I conked out at 2:15 and was up with the sun....you napped a second wind, and I'm faded glory.....My three and half hours of catatonic New Years sleep suddenly not enough! But it's here, the big fat New Year! Clink!

eric1313 said...

clink!

singleton said...

He leaned in close
with his
Robert Goulet
hair,
his nuggeted
pinkie fingered hand
caressing
the stem of
his nine dollar drink,
and asked me to dance....
I stared
into the cavern of
the ninth hole of goofy golf,
28 teeth in a row,
veneered piano keys about to play,
the smile of a snake,
and said
"No, thank you"

I'd rather grow old
than glow in the dark.....

singleton said...

Everyone held up their lighters
kissed the sky,
a stadium wave,
sudden
and for no reason why,
except that I asked them to....

And I know she smiled
in the tincan candlelight,
tiptoed to the door and peeked....

"Knock,knock,knockin' on heaven's door"........

eric1313 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
eric1313 said...

She wouldn't take no
for a final answer.

She wouldn't take yes
either,

I reshuffled
and dealt
from the top of the deck
and laid my cards down
so she could see their
scribbled make-my-day
faces:

A one eyed Jack,
A King with his axe,
a pocket ace of hearts
flanked by double deuces

The Queen of Spades
still wanted to play
her game
play for keeps
soul for soul
under glass
in a bottle
tapping forever
to let me be
the future was that clear
like gin burning
all the way down

And I left the table
with her demanding why

And I had no final answer
that was not said
by the squeak of my size
13's
or the door swinging
behind me

the silence spoke
better than I
and this
she will never forget

eric1313 said...

Are you there, Sing?

Did you have a nap? I know you were tired...

singleton said...

No nap....And these brown eyes are crossed eyes.....
but I can't give in to sleep,
not ready to give the
first day,
the new day
away

singleton said...

I don't know how to sleep in the dayshine

eric1313 said...

I don't know how to sleep in the starshine.

eric1313 said...

;)

singleton said...

It's the night
that's toxic,
aged wine in a dusty old glass,
that leaves me
exhausted,spinning
and wanting more
but spent....
and spoiled....
and
finally
exhausted....
and giving in before
I ever dream of giving up

singleton said...

LOL!
I can go without food and sleep,
but
don't take away my
smokes,
my Winston Lights,
or my color crayon box!

eric1313 said...

I'm like a vodka drinking
vampire
the sunrise my curtain-call
the blue sky a blinding flash
the stars I know each by name
they sing to me even now
through the cloud cover


The lady in the silver moon
is my woman
and my friend

my torch over this dark town
by the smooth faced river
as she goes
so do I

singleton said...

My favorite hour to fall asleep is
three,
I like the sound of it,
rolling off my tongue,
the way its spelled
in letters
and in magic,
the way it slips
unnoticed
halfway between
midnight and sunrise
and steals the show
from both.....

singleton said...

I love the loudness
of silence,
the traffic light
clicking off and on,
dogs barking
and talking
and singing to sirens,
leaves dancing,
accidentally thrown from the bus....

eric1313 said...

May you always have smokes
and crayons by the hundred

scribbler,
painter
techno-rainbow
love and peace maker

make me a painting
of the oceans and sky
in your world

and I'll write the captions
if there's room
because the story you tell
so often needs only
a few simple words:

Red
periwinkle
pink
green
pearl
magenta
lavender
pastels
brown eyes
blue skies
a golden sunset
as the waves carry you there
and back by dancing time.

eric1313 said...

May you always have crayons
a drink and some smokes

and I'll be there
to offer a light
if you need it

because your light
has always helped me clearly
see

singleton said...

and the sounds that
the house makes
reminding me she breathes,
refrigerator purring,
cat on a wet back porch,
pipes groaning,
stretching, rolling over in the dark,
fifty years and trying as hard
as they can to be faithful....

the
accidental orchestra
of the everyday quiet....

singleton said...

Lets write a fairytale
that's upside down and backwards,
an ending that
dangles when you leave the book hanging on the edge of the tub,
or open and splayed on the living room floor,
that finishes differently with each dog earred page,
and I'll draw the pictures,
in colors
with make believe names...

Lets write a fairytale and call it....

singleton said...

Let's write a fairytale
thats never finished

eric1313 said...

A symphony of the ordinary
conducted sublime

the tick of the clock
at half past
moonshine

tells you the time
with you eyes closed tight
wrapped in the love
of even the softest sound

eric1313 said...

in the night

singleton said...

Clink!
A symphony of the ordinary......
I soooooo like that!

eric1313 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
eric1313 said...

A fairy tale fandango
legend spun of many
delicate threads

the end is the beginning
the middle sings throughout
the bridge takes you up
to kiss the all the clouds
then down the river
the wait-for-me-street

a fairy tail of sonnets
haikus
tankas
verses in the eye
of the sound-storm
blowing sweet

as mermaids sing the words
softly
as the tide turns
and falls at our feet

eric1313 said...

I love it when you might not know what is here to see until you finish whatever gem you're working on at the moment.

singleton said...

And the princess is a mermaid,
Cinderalla in a sandcastle,
four hours strong,
and the prince
is barefooted
and standing at the Tiki Bar,
drinking beer in the sun,
trading poetry
for tribal tattoos
or one more ticket on the himalaya

eric1313 said...

Wild yarns---

spun of wild yarns

yes, I like this,

Our fairy tail opus is complete, I think...

singleton said...

Ta! Dah! You never know where it's goin' at The Butterfly Bar!

eric1313 said...

Tiki bar Tommy
and his mermaid love
who stays just out of reach...

I like that!

singleton said...

:)

singleton said...

And every four hours the tides change

eric1313 said...

We should get something out there for the new year...

A Butterfly new beginning
from conception
to the chrysalis
to the unveiling
wings with a goddess's eyes
reflected by the full moon

singleton said...

or maybe it's six!

singleton said...

I'll leave that up to you, my moonshine friend, I've got two
sips left of the
new day
beer
and line dried sheets on the bed...
the temperatures dropped 45 degrees
between 2007
and the
new day dawning
And I'm about to tumble
into never never land....

eric1313 said...

Good night my friend...

sleep tight--as soon as I can, I'll post some Michigan postcard pictures of the foot of snow that fell during the night.

New camera and I still don't know how to use it right!

singleton said...

Five hours,
five seconds
to dream.....

eric1313 said...

go!

I'll be here.

Your work needs you to be as rested as you can.

singleton said...

JSYK....I'm six months into the new camera magic....and still workin' on the flash! Night, my friend.....

Casdok said...

Sorry to but in! Just wanted to wish you a belated happy new year!!

eric1313 said...

No problem, Cas! Glad you made it by this space! We'll talk to you soon.

Princess Pointful said...

Clink! It is long past midnight, but you two deserve a big ol' Clink anyhow.

This poem feels different from the rest... a bit darker.

eric1313 said...

Princess

Clink!

Midnight is just a fun subject--an end, a beginning, old and new.

It's the circle most complete. The witching hour, and on new years, the moment of universal kissing.

Peace and love to you in '08!

singleton said...

cas...Happy New Year!

Princess.....Lets Hope it's a Magical one!

Eric....clink! To the wanton hour! The wild one,
the moment suspended,
a pendulum
broken and daring

to midnight, my friend!

eric1313 said...

To midnight, "the wanton hour"...

Briliant!

Clink!

Anonymous said...

"She's a nice girl,
you'll see, Ma"
he tells me over
a
staticky
towerless
connection....
"I can't wait to meet her son"
I babble into
open space
blankness
blackness....

"She's sweet"
"She's a stripper,Ma, but
she has to, I'll tell ya about that after you meet her".....

OMG!

singleton said...

we wonder...
wander...
do circle eights....
teach them,
preach them,
turn them inside out
and wait....
for our
own yesterdays and
even more,
the icing on the cake,
to haunt us,
to spider crawl across
our souls,
to tickle us
until
it's
painful

singleton said...

until
it
hurts

eric1313 said...

Anon's gone wild!

I love it!

Let me get back to the hurts...

And check this final take out, if you will...


You did it...
You crept through
mile high grasses tonight,
Cheshire leopardess queen
changing your spots in
perfect symmetry and hue.

I read the swaying leaves,
and felt your sea breeze
my eyes
opened up a bottle or two,
and were drunk from you,
the electric grace, poetic--
your lovelight undercover
your evocative brew.

It could only be you,
behind the gold curtain
pulling these heart strings,
flipping the right switches--
ticking tock so to and fro,
making eternity happen
a flash of keen insight
and right then I knew...

Brown eyes will forever
trump my falling blues,

An angel in the light
you say this I am,
and I say that you
wear my guilt like a charm
bangle jangling our tune.

I knew it was you--
mystery shadow dancer
breathless new view,

Tell me again...
how to fill intimate spaces
between these moments
and tomorrow's risen blue,
Tell me again...
how you always just knew
that love's light is born
from the darkness
again and again
and again.

Anonymous said...

And there was a curtain,
a flimsy
fly-in-the-breeze
sheer
curtain,
that I could hide behind,
near naked,
and and near hidden
near black
and near white
and I clung
to the truth
in it's shadow

eric1313 said...

until the fire
burns sweet
and complete

Until the fingers
turn from
tickles to
circles
their own
figure eights

tonight
we'll light a candle
to see the crumbs
from our cake

a trail leading
up
up
up
to frosty lips
and fingers

the night
we ate...
we have...
some more cake

Anonymous said...

I laughed at the wind
and ached in the
soul,
the bottomless cup of soup,
empty and full,
chicken noodles
or fools,
my cup runneth over
and my beers aren't cold enough
or old enough
to see me through

singleton said...

"Just wait"
she said....
until you have your own....
and then you'll know....

I was too
busy dancin'
in the kitchen
and stewin' spells
to listen....

to change my ways

too busy walkin'
Diamond Dogs
to see them
nippin'
at my
heels

eric1313 said...

The curtain is my cover
my body covered

wondering
where are you?

singleton said...

like a
wicked game of
"Operation"
I try.....
and it
shocks me
jolts me,
stops me from the big save, everytime

singleton said...

I'm off on a tanget,
my own tangled web,
wandering
ranting
weaving across lanes...

eric1313 said...

She leaned in close
as the cover all music
slammed us and jammed
so loud you couldn't
a midnight primal scream

"I just want to go home"
drifted with the blue haze
of menthol smoke
from her clear glossed lips

And I wanted to take her there
from that place with the pole
the tables
the old men with desperate
eyes
and dollars dangling in their
mouths
and hands as cold as a
winter
of forever

"Take me home"
she said
and I did

But the next day dawned
and I woke to make
my bed
alone

Dreams are many things
and her's had to fly
away
away
to find an impossible place
to call her home

singleton said...

fridays are for dancin'.....
OMG,
I told 'em so,
but Fridays
like Mondays
can haunt you....
if
you don't
turn just so

eric1313 said...

The light in her green eyes
told me there was a way

but in the dark room
red light
we found
many more ways
together
but still on our own

eric1313 said...

alone
the song plays
our breathing
tight and musty
and broken only
by the light tap
of rain on the roof

perfect storms
draw imperfect loves
together on a canvas
scribbled figures
twisting
wishing
trying
to find the fairy tail
the chase

two souls
two hearts
a one way cobbled street
they say
the doors are wide open
but in the end
all but one of them
are closed

eric1313 said...

Is everything OK Singleton?

singleton said...

I honestly don't know how
you can write up there,
its like
37 here tonight
after 27,
22,
and I can't think,
can't stop
shiverin',
tied in a flannel knot,
waiting....
for the sun to griddle shine,
to wake me up,
to gift me back
the give-me-ups....

eric1313 said...

It's five degrees here...

You need a hoody sweatshirt!

eric1313 said...

Put on blue jeans, two pairs of socks, a t shirt and a sweatshirt, or two t shirts and a flannel. Layers are the key. I had to walk a mile to get groceries and a haircut, in the Michigan tundra....

I used to shovel snow when I was a kid. I saw dollars floating like white butterflies out of the sky! I had to dress warm to get twenty bucks per house I shoveled!

eric1313 said...

That was how I could afford my Metallica and Led Zeppelin t shirts and CD's!

eric1313 said...

Mom wouldn't buy shirts with skulls on them... She'd say to buy it for myself.

I bet you wouldn't either, for some reason. That's OK. Every kid should buy some things their self.

singleton said...

a perfect storm
is virile
vibrant
totally out of control
but
nothing more than
a memory in the morning....
anything less would
be named
in alphabetical order
and rated on an alpha numeric scale...
a state of disaster....

but a perfect storm
is lost
in the
morning after

singleton said...

I'm layered....
I'm freezing.....

singleton said...

We havent had a freeze since 2003, so we are totally unprepared.....
my heater is hiccuping,
my hoodie is threadbare....
my socks are little nursewhites
and not doing the trick!

eric1313 said...

a perfect storm
grants no quarter

a perfect storm
demands
imperfect bodies
and golden souls
come together
to fight the cold claws
of the winter beast

A perfect storm
is the perfect weather
for new lovers in lust
or for old enemies
to make
peace

eric1313 said...

I'd send you one of my many hoodies if I could.

I'm wearing my Shenandoah Nation Park hoody I bought while motorcycling through Virginia two years ago.

eric1313 said...

I bought it because the mornings were freezing cold in the mountains, while the valleys were so warm, my leather jacket and hoody wearing but sweated a river one minute, then we road up and froze to the bone.

But it was a lot of fun.

singleton said...

I cant even imagine riding in this,
it's PAINFUL!
But I have a feelin'
we can bask
in sunshine
you guys would think
was
miserable.....

eric1313 said...

Princess is snowed in, too. They canceled her flight three times, she said. But she has to take a greyhound, because the PhD classes start, and they don't wait around.

But then again, she is up in Canada. It's really damn cold there.

eric1313 said...

We have our one hundred degree days every year. This is a place of extremes for some reason.

I love hot weather! I'm a skinny bones! As long as there's an ocean, I'm all for FLA.

Daytona was the bomb!

singleton said...

Its supposed to be in the 70's tomorrow or Sunday.......
I can't wait!
Boppin' off
to meet the girlfriend.....
Have a great night, friend, thank you for meeting me at the bar.....

singleton said...

Bless Princess, too, I don't know how you guys do it!

Peace~love and flannels

eric1313 said...

We went in between the bikers and the spring breakers. It was perfect, no crowds and the prices were cheap, stayed right on the ocean, walked out the back door onto the beach and watched the sand crabs skitter from leaf to leaf.

My mom loved Daytona so much, she shopped houses half the vacation.

singleton said...

Clink your mom on that one for me! House shop every time I'm at the beach! Poor Daytona, it's not our most beautiful (in spite of the ads) but it's home to some of the best true tacky Florida architecture, neon lights, and flamingos in the world.....
And the people, good Lord, the people! We're originally from the west coast of Florida where the dunes are mammoth sugar hills,
where the hermit crabs
parade in sideways motion
chasing the tides,
but I love it here to.....
amongst the tourists,
the bikers,
and kids.....
yeah, Clink! your Mom, she had the right idea! :)

eric1313 said...

Clink! her on the not buying heavy metal shirts, or house hunting in Daytona?

Any way how'd the meet with "destiny" go? Or Chloe or Xstacy or whatever her stage name is...

If she "has to", he better know that's a lazy excuse, like saying crack dealers have to, or killers have to... she could learn to type. It's not hard.

But then again, I'm stuck. There is nothing up here, except food service industry. Every job that opens up is applied to by fifty out of work people and somebody with tons of experience gets hired every time.

I've filled out my paper work for college money, but it's going to be hard to find somewhere to live! Sucks, but hey...

Anyway, Saturdays are for soul twistin'

Peace, my friend.

singleton said...

To house hunting, silly poet! Every one should have T-shirts, heavy or light! Destiny didn't make it to my late night doorstep, Whewwwww! Iknowiknowiknow.......

Get that paperwork in, kiddo, and get back in that classroom, you've gotta lotta great classics to write.......

Sundays are for sunshine!
And peace.....

singleton said...

my eyes pop open,
a jack in the box
sprung like a madman from his painted box,
and in the dark,
I know it's Monday.
I stretch and throw
Friday,Saturday,Sunday,
the blanket of peace,
off the bed
and wait for
morning....